Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) Many films have attempted to make movies on death with humour that certainly will not appeal to everybody, but those who like it will probably really enjoy it. This is one of them. However, for me personally, this was not a triumph. We follow a duo of father and son who work in the undertaking business, but run into trouble when a chain reaction causes a huge rock to fall on their car. There are some nice references in here about death such as the river Styx or also that the protagonists' death is so close to them when that rock hits the car and a couple more. Still I have to say the humor did not appeal to me too much. Apart from that, the plot was also not well-constructed. It was never really clear if the old lady was dead or even if the two undertakers were still alive in the latter parts of the film.Also the parade scene did not work for me at all. It stood so much in contrast to the whole atmosphere before that and the ending was not my cup of tea either. Why would they jump in the hole as well? So random. The final song was nice, but I cannot really make a connection between the music there and the 9-minute short film before that. The animation is fine. The Academy quite loved it as they granted it a nomination in the Best Animated Short Subject category. There, it lost to the (in my opinion far superior) Japanese entry. I kinda like the title though: "This Way Up". But that alone is not enough to let me forget about all the negative and mediocre aspects here. Not recommended and I cannot say I am too surprised that Foulkes and Smith, the two filmmakers behind this, have not worked on more movies in the last 7 years according to their IMDb filmography. I hope when they start a comeback, they will have improved.

Robert Reynolds This short was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead:This is a fairly active short which packs quite a lot, so it bears repeated viewing. From the trip in the hearse from the funeral home, where the natures of the two main characters are set through some quick gags, this short starts out strong and builds from there.Something very minor starts a chain reaction, leading to the first gut punch the firm of A.T. Shank and Son will take this disturbing day. It will not be the last in a day which would make a sane man change professions.The most fastidious and determined undertaker in the world and his much less intense son go on a journey which would give Odysseus the screaming meemies! They meet with thickets, hunters, birds, boulders and slopes. They wind up in a Hell which resembles New Orleans at Mardi Gras as filmed by Roger Corman. Shaken but yet unbowed, the two seriously determined undertakers manage to leave the afterlife with their seriously damaged coffin, finally depositing it in the grave. The ending scene is wonderful and shows changes to both father and son. The song over the credits is delightfully bizarre.This is most definitely worth finding and watching, so long as you don't find the subject matter to disturbing for your taste. Most highly recommended.

freemantle_uk When watching this short it is easy to think that it takes Pixar style design and Tim Burtonesque plot. The focus of the short is on two funeral directors who have to pick up a recently deceased person. However there hearse is destroyed and they have to take the coffin through a hell of a lot of obstacle course to get her to her resting peace and do it in respect.The animation was beautiful, so much better to some feature length films and television programmes. The characters could easily fit into a Pixar film like the Incredibles. The plot is comedy, but funerals is not an obvious subject for comedy. It in not a short for really young kids.I personally enjoyed this film.

MartinHafer Like last year, I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated animated short films. However, unlike last year, in addition to the nominees, several "commended films" were also shown. In this review I'll make my predictions, though if it's anything like last year's choices, I'll probably once again pick the wrong shorts as my favorite for the award.This film is a computer generated short from the United Kingdom. It's about two morticians who are out to retrieve a body for burial. However, again and again, events conspire against them and nothing seems to go right. All of the mistakes make this a highly creative and funny film but I also assume some people might find it all in bad taste--though that's exactly why I liked the film. Seeing them lose the corpse and it getting stuck in a tree, taking a side trip to the after life and all the crazy Looney Toon-like stunts made me laugh repeatedly--something none of the other shorts did even once.Overall, I think the award for Best Animated Short is probably between this film and PRESTO--though LE MAISON EN PETITS CUBES seems to have a shot at the prize as well. THIS WAY UP is very daring with its dark content, exceptionally different CGI look and sense of humor. If the Academy is willing to pick such a dark toned film, it can easily win. PRESTO is a very good CGI film, with the best artwork of the five films and a story that seems inspired by Tex Avery. It's not surprising that it looks so good, as it's a Pixar short. However, THIS WAY UP seemed more creative and different--whereas PRESTO seemed like a 1950s cartoon brought to life using CGI.Considering my track record last year, I assume THIS WAY UP won't win. It's a shame, as I really liked it and would love to see more from the sick folks who made it!UPDATE: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES was the winner this year. Not surprisingly, I got this one wrong but at least saw the film as a strong contender.